In many universal joints of this kind the bearing bush, which sits on the journal, is secured by a securing ring in the axial direction. The securing ring is inserted into an encircling groove in the housing in front of the bearing bush. For this, the housing projects past the bearing bush by several millimeters to the front. This fundamental technique is known, for example, from US 2005/0037850 A1. A securing element fashioned as a securing ring is inserted into a groove in the housing in front of the bearing bush in the direction of the bearing axis. Thanks to the steplike configuration of the securing ring with different diameters, it is possible to adjust the play in the direction of the bearing axis between the bearing bush and the journal.
As compared to the above described method of bearing securement, to increase the transmissible torque one uses a longer bearing bush, corresponding to the length of the bore. The securing ring in this case is no longer inserted into a groove in the bearing surface of the housing or in a groove in the bearing bush in front of the bearing bush, but between the bearing bush and the housing. In EP 1 719 928 A2, such an axial securing arrangement is described, in which the securing ring is arranged in the direction of the axis of rotation of the journal, i.e., in the axial direction, not in front of the bearing bush, but in the region of the outer side surface of the bearing bush, encircling the bearing bush. In this case, the bearing bush does not strike against the securing element with its end face in the axial direction, as described in US 2005/0037850 A1, but instead the securing element cuts into the bearing surfaces of the housing or the bearing bush, so that the surfaces of these bearing surfaces become damaged.
One benefit of the bearing described in EP 1 719 928 A2 as compared to the technique mentioned above is that, thanks to shifting the securing ring from in front of the bearing bush to a region between the bearing bush and the housing, one can increase the length of the bearing bush, since the bearing bush can extend for the entire length of the housing. This leads to an increase in the transmissible torque and to an increase in the service life. EP 1 719 928 A2 is considered to be the closest prior art.
Starting from EP 1 719 928 A2, the basic problem of the invention is to configure the bearing of the journal of a universal joint so that the bearing surfaces in the universal joint housing and on the bearing bush are not damaged either during installation or dismounting of the bearing arrangement and in case of a repeated installation the dimensional tolerances created during production remain intact in all regions of the bearing surfaces, while at the same time the entire housing length is available for the bearing bush.